Baby crowning moment for William and Kate

July 22, 2013 7:38 am

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By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Prince William and his wife Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge walk together in October 2012/AFPLONDON, Jul 22 – The birth of Prince William and his wife Catherine’s first baby will be the culmination of their relationship which began as friendship, blossomed into love and saw them marry in a fairytale wedding.

The royal couple never hid their desire to start a family of their own, a new phase that will require them to juggle their high-profile public lives with nappy changing, sleepless nights and the other demands of parenthood.

They will also have to handle the global interest in their newborn baby, which will be third in line to inherit the throne after its grandfather Prince Charles and then William.

Despite their glittering wedding on April 29, 2011 at London’s Westminster Abbey, the couple have always been determined to keep their private life low-key.

They mainly live in a small cottage in remote northwest Wales, close to the Royal Air Force (RAF) base where William works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

It is in keeping with how their relationship began, out of the public glare in a small Scottish seaside town.

We went through a few stumbling blocks as every relationship does, but we picked ourselves up and carried on,” he said, adding: “It’s just really easy being with each other; it’s really fun.

Catherine has admitted that at her first meeting with the second-in-line to the throne in September 2001, when they both arrived to study at the University of St Andrews, she “went bright red” and quickly excused herself.

William, however, said in their only joint interview – in November 2010 to mark their engagement – that he always knew “there was something very special about her”.

“We went through a few stumbling blocks as every relationship does, but we picked ourselves up and carried on,” he said, adding: “It’s just really easy being with each other; it’s really fun.”

He ribbed her about reports that she had a poster of him on her bedroom wall as a teenager. “He wishes!”, she replied with a smile.

Catherine made her mark early on when William was unhappy with his course – like hers, history of art – and almost quit university. She persuaded him to stay on but to switch to geography.

William, in turn, is very protective of her. He waited to propose to give her a chance to “back out if she needed, before it all got too much”.

In June 2003, William told reporters he did not have a “steady girlfriend”, while Catherine was dating someone else.

By Christmas 2003, however, they were reported to be a couple and when they were photographed on a skiing holiday in March 2004, the palace did not deny they were together.

The course of true love never runs smoothly, though, and in April 2007 palace officials confirmed they had broken up, a fact blamed variously on William’s career and his being pictured out partying with various women.

Kate admitted she “wasn’t very happy” about the split but insisted: “It made me a stronger person.”

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